1. Field of the Invention
This invention relates to an IC carrier used for supporting an IC package for the purposes of transport, storage, etc.
2. Brief Description of the Prior Art
In a typical conventional IC carrier as represented by that disclosed in U.S. Pat. No. 3,652,974, an IC package is carried by the carrier in a state in which an engagement claw engages an upper surface of an IC package body received in an IC receiving portion, a number of leads projecting sideward from the IC package extend through a number of slots formed in an upper surface of the carrier, and lower surfaces of the respective leads are supported on surfaces defining the bottoms of the slots, respectively.
When the lead pitches are comparatively large, the respective leads can easily be inserted into the corresponding slots. However, this IC carrier has shortcomings in that when the lead pitches are very small, there is a possibility that the respective leads will impinge respective slot partition walls and become deformed. Therefore, this structure is not suitable for use with the IC packages in which the leads are arranged at very small pitches as experienced recently.
There is also proposed a slotless type of IC carrier in to a load applied thereto. The deformation of the leads is particularly significant when the IC carrier is dropped.
Furthermore, all of the above prior art devices have the problem in that the lead supporting surface and the leads are subject to rub together, causing the lead surfaces to become damaged.